After the bloody demonstrations by anti-globalisation protesters at last year’s G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy is bracing itself once more as 20,000 delegates arrive for the start of the first-ever European Social Forum.

But organisers of the conference, which started Wednesday in Florence, have stressed that the delegates from various trade unions, church groups and Marxist organisations among others are there to talk, not cause trouble.

Meeting in an old fort in the centre of the Tuscan city, the conference-goers from across the EU, eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, Israel and Palastine will seek to find alternatives to current political and economic thinking. “No Logo” author Naomi Klein and British left-wing historian and novelist Tariq Ali are expected to be among the participants.

The forum in Italy is the European chapter of the World Social Forum, which is held in Brazil each year. The anti-globalisation – which has at its root a dislike of the neo-liberal agenda, the growth in power of multinational corporations and the increasing divide between rich and poor – was born out of demonstrations at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle in 1999.

Searching for alternatives

Hugo Braun, of the German anti-globalisation group Attac-Deutschland, told Deutsche Welle Radio in Cologne that many in the anti-globalisation movement are simply fed up with protesting against globalisation and want to work at finding solutions.

“Of course, when one protests against something, it follows that you ask yourself what the alternative could be. And this is exactly the aim of the European Social Forum: searching for alternatives,” Braun said.

But the conference, which runs until Sunday, is also expected to take on a significant anti-war tone. Indeed, it is the first time that anti-globalisation protesters and the international peace movement have come together.

Direct action

It’s on this point that talking is expected to stop and action is expected to start. Over 100,000 people are expected to take part in an anti-war march on Saturday. A further protest was planned for Wednesday as anti-war protesters were due to stage a sit-in at a U.S. military base outside the city.

But although Wednesday’s and Saturday’s demonstrations are being billed as peaceful, Italy – still reeling from the violence surrounding the G8 summit in June 2001 – has reason to fear otherwise.

Back then, when demonstrators gathered in Genoa to make their opposition to leaders from the seven most industrialised countries and Russia, they clashed violently with police. Many were injured, around 60 hospitalised and one Italian demonstrator, 23-year-old Carlo Guiliani, was shot dead by a police conscript as he attacked a police car.

After Genoa, the Italian authorities are not taking any chances. The Italian Interior Ministry tightened border controls two weeks ago in an attempt to prevent more extremist groups such as the Black Bloc from entering the country. Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi announced that over 6,000 uniformed, military and plain-clothed police will be on hand to ensure the peace.

Deutsche Welle correspondent Jennifer Macey, who is at the forum, described the atmosphere in the city as nervous.

“Florence is regarded as a renaissance jewel – famous for its art and a prime tourist spot – and the people here are worried about a replay of Genoa happening," Macey said.

To this end, luxury shops and banks have boarded up their windows and McDonalds has dismantled their golden arches. Famous sites of architectural importance, including Leonardo’s statue of David, have been cordoned off and streets in the centre of the city have been closed. The U.S. Foreign Office have warned their citizens to stay away from the centre of town on Saturday.

But violent protests or not, whether such varied groups will be able to find an alternative platform on which they can agree is questionable. “It’s something which has proved itself to be true at the World Social Forum: differences are so stark across continents, that a general consensus really can’t be reached," Braun said.

In fact, forum organizers said they do not expect to make any final declaration on further action by the time it ends on Sunday.